Absorbent



(No Model.)

L. T. BURNHAM.

ABSORBBNT COTTON.

No. 459,608. Patented Sept. 15, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

LEWIS TAFEL BURNHAM, OF \VALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

ABSORBENT-.COTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 459,608, datedSeptember 15, 1891.

Application filed June 4, 1891. Serial No, 395,128. (No specimens.)

sorbent of very fine fiber, in which the fibers of cotton are laidparallel, or very nearly so, and which as a dressing or pad is strongonly in one directionrthat is, in the direction of the staple or fiber.In the other directions, or at right angles to the staple or fiber, itis extremely weak and easily detached. The absorbent cotton made asdescribed allows a glazing of the surface first exposed to the wound ordischarges, thus rendering the bulk of the dressing useless and makingit very deleterious to the healing of the wound.

In the present invention Ihave sought to produce an absorbent cottonwhich will be cheaper and which is more absorbent of blood, pus,sero-purulent, and muco-purulent fluids than ordinary absorbent cotton.My improved absorbent cotton can be made from raw cotton of cheapquality and short staple, or I can make the absorbent cotton from cottonnot serviceable for cloth-making, and more particularly from cop waste,so called, or from card fiyings or card waste intermingled with threadwaste, or from coinbings or nappings intermingled with thread waste; andI do not desire to be limited to cotton, as it can be made from jute,flax, or, in fact, from any vegetable fiber.

To produce myimproved absorbent cotton,

'material of this kind as cop waste, for example-is taken and putthrough a machine once, twice, or as often as maybe necessary to tear upor separate the threads and to beat it up into its required softness,and it is then put into a lapper and wound into laps of convenient size.Then taken from the lapper, it is exposed to a dry heat and it is thenready for shipment. The lap is of a uniform thickness, and varying inthickness and width as is convenient and necessary for the treatment ofdifferent sized wounds. The absorbent cotton, if put into the form of alap, is in conveniently-shaped packages for the market; a given numberof pounds to a package can be put into it; it can be easily sheared intoany desired shape to cover the wound, and being in a lap or roll it canbe easily handled by the physician, and being of uniform thickness itdoes not make alumpy or severe application to the Wound. If it is usedin bulk form, it cannot be uniformly or evenly applied to the wound, andwhen so applied,

and bandages put on the outside it produces an uneven pressure upon thewound with hurtful results. The cheapness of the article so produced isapparent, it being made from waste cotton and without being subjected tothe expense of any carding process.

My improved absorbent cotton is illustrated in the figure of theaccompanying drawing.

It will be noticed that in among the fibers, which are shown by themanysmall lines or marks, there are numerous threads interspersed,whichI have indicated by the letters a at, these threads, however, being muchmore numerous than would appear from the illustration. Absorbent cottonmade from this material and in the manner aforesaid isunlike theordinary absorbent cotton in that the fibers are not parallel, but arecrossed or mixed, and many small threads (it being made from threadWaste) are intermingled and interspersed among them. These bits ofthread, as shown at a a, some of them being partially beaten out by theaction of the machine, extend in all directions in among the fibers, andthey perform two functions: First, they serve to hold the fiberstogether and make the lap or pad strong in all directions, and, second,the intermingled bits of threads serve to accelerate the absorption,because, being mixed in with the fibers and extending in all directionsthroughout the whole pad, they furnish channels into the substance ofthe dressing, and when these bits of thread come in contact with thefluid they immediately become saturated, and by capillary attraction thefluid is immediately and quickly carried not only into the ends of thethreads, but into all the fibers that lie in contact with them.

cleaner, and, takingless material to treat the same wound, makes a lessbulky bandage. If the stock used for this absorbent cotton is raw cottonor card waste,or short staple stock or Waste cotton, or materialof anykind which has no threads in it, then, in that case, thread Waste or copWaste should be mixedwith it before it goes through the machine to anamount suffioient to enable the material when it emerges from themachine to have the desired number of threads in it to give itconsistency and strength and to insure a quick 4 absorption of thefluid, as above described.

I claim An absorbent cotton in the form of a lap or sheet made from theintermingling of cotton threads with the fibers of cotton, substantiallyas herein set forth and described.

LEWIS TAFEL BURNHAM.

Witnesses:

CHARLES G. SMITH, JOHN J. WALSH.

